Torquay Rotarians help build toilets in PNG

TORQUAY Rotarians have been part of a nearly four-year effort to build composting toilets for a school in a remote village in Papua New Guinea.

The waterless toilets at the Lese Oalai school in the Gulf Province include 10 for boys, 10 for girls, and two for teachers and handicapped children.

Construction materials were funded by a $85,000 (USD) grant from the Rotary Foundation, assisted by 10 Rotary Clubs and five Rotary Districts from both Australia and overseas, and several private donors.

 

As well as Torquay, the Rotary Clubs of Manly and Boroko contributed significantly to the project.

The work on the toilets was all done by volunteers from Lese Oalai, supervised by two Rotary Australia World Community Service team volunteers and the Peter Nathan Loko Foundation, which also managed an ongoing public education program to teach the school children the correct use of the toilets.

“The project took nearly four years to plan, but the local workers, previously untrained, after two weeks of supervised training by volunteer Ned McLarnon, were able to complete the building themselves in four months,” Rotary Club of Torquay international committee member John Oswald said.

 

“From not knowing what a screw was to being a potential employee at a professional building site, these village volunteers gained a lot from building the toilets themselves.

“A member of the Rotary Club of Torquay, a senior educator, said Ned was the best natural teacher she had ever seen. We owe a lot to him.

“For the school and the town, building it themselves means they are more able – and more likely – to maintain the booths.”

The toilets were officially opened on November 2.

 

“This is just the first step in a building program that will include bringing water and power to the school, resurrecting the aid post, and rebuilding 14 classrooms for classes Grade Prep to Grade 3,” Mr Oswald said.

He thanked Peter Nathan Loko Foundation chair and Rotary Club of Geelong member Lucy Loko, Mr McLarnon, the Rotary Clubs of Torquay, Manly and Boroko, and the project’s suppliers such as LooCube in Queensland and plumbers and builders in Port Moresby, for all their help.